


Requiem

by advanced_fanatic



Series: Bungou Stray Archives [15]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
Genre: Angst, Arson, Character Death, Dazai Osamu Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dead Mori Ougai (Bungou Stray Dogs), Death, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everyone Needs Therapy, Eye Gouging, Eye Trauma, Finally, Fire, Gen, Grief/Mourning, He sucks, Hurt No Comfort, Mentioned Mori Ougai (Bungou Stray Dogs), Minor Character Death, Mori Ougai is His Own Warning (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakajima Atsushi Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Original Statement (The Magnus Archives), Poor Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs), Quote: Statement Begins (The Magnus Archives), Sakaguchi Ango Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), although you should be able to put it together by now, because i am SO HAPPY i get to kill him, different statements, he really does, i might write more backstory fics if the inspiration strikes me, like maybe the truth of what happened in the library, normal contact names for once, or little moments, that is the only character death I'm spoiling, that sort of thing, the last installment, this is it, why is that not a common tag, yeah that happens sort of, you know all those fics where og elias comes back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic
Summary: In the aftermath of the Unknowing, everyone tries their best to pick up the pieces, throw them in the garbage can, and light the garbage can on fire.
Relationships: Dazai Osamu & Oda Sakunosuke (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu & Sakaguchi Ango (Bungou Stray Dogs), Izumi Kyouka & Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs), Kunikida Doppo & Yosano Akiko (Bungou Stray Dogs), Lucy Maud Montgomery & Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakajima Atsushi & Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakajima Atsushi & Oda Sakunosuke's Children (Bungou Stray Dogs), one of them anyway - Relationship, sort of - Relationship
Series: Bungou Stray Archives [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740364
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Requiem

Atsushi came back to himself in a small, dark space with Lucy’s voice ringing in his ears:  _ I love you, Atsushi. I forgive you. _

...Huh. He would have thought she’d be angry about him blowing up her ritual. Although then again, he was trapped under the rubble--maybe she was going to try to leave him there for a while as revenge.

Why would she tell him she forgave him, then? And why say that she loved him? Kyouka and Akutagawa hadn’t mentioned Tachihara’s comments about the fact that the rest of wilderness club didn’t love him back, so she wouldn’t feel the need to rebut that. Unless, of course, Atsushi had mentioned it during the Unknowing, which...was possible. He didn’t really remember what had happened then, so...really anything could have.

That would be a fun conversation.

He started to move, and realized that his wrists were pinned down with warped, blackened plastic, almost in the shape of hands. There was burnt skin hanging off of it, too, which was just  _ gross _ . Then he looked up, and jumped (as much as he could anyway), because the arm was connected to a shoulder that appeared to be almost crushed under debris, and  _ that _ was connected to a plastic head--Lucy’s head, her eyes blank, a small, contented smile on her face, her braids trailing down over Atsushi, Kunikida’s skin peeling off of her.

Atsushi yelped. “Lucy, that’s really creepy! Please let me go!”

Lucy didn’t move or respond.

Atsushi tried to pull his wrists away. Lucy’s fingers didn’t budge.

“I thought you said you forgave me for blowing up the Unknowing,” Atsushi grumbled. “I’m pretty sure that means that you don’t take revenge. You can’t have it both ways.”

Lucy still didn’t say or do anything to signify she’d heard, and Atsushi flopped his head back down in defeat. He was curled under her in a very uncomfortable position, and she was pinning him down so that he couldn’t move. They were locked together under a bunch of debris, which had probably come from the explosion. There were solid walls of it on either side--on one side, Atsushi could see the Toy Soldier, as still as Lucy, but instead of smiling, its face looked frozen in the middle of a desolated wail. There was a piece of debris straight through its neck. It looked like it should be in motion, but it wasn’t, because...because…

But no. Because if the Toy Soldier, who only had a few pieces of debris through it, was dead, then Lucy, who was half-crushed with the weight of it all, who seemed just inches from crumbling into pieces, would be dead also. And that wasn’t right. Lucy  _ couldn’t _ die. Not now, not  _ ever. _ She was a mannequin, an avatar of the Stranger. What could kill her?

(An explosion, that was why they had chosen that to stop the Unknowing, it could destroy Stanger avatars--but not  _ Lucy, _ Atsushi had never considered that it might destroy  _ Lucy, _ she was his friend, his family, his pack-mate. He had never thought that she might get hurt.)

_ I forgive you, _ she had said. 

Was she forgiving Atsushi for killing her?

Oh, God, Atsushi had killed her.

“Lucy,” he said, begging her to respond. “Lucy. Lucy. Lucy! Lucy! Lucy, please answer,  _ please, please _ don’t be dead, nonono, please, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!”

Lucy didn’t move or respond.

“No,” Atsushi moaned, tears leaking into his eyes, grief ripping holes through his chest. “No, no, Lucy,  _ Lucy!” _

Predictably, Lucy did not respond or even come close to it. Atsushi screamed a scream that was both a scream and a growl at once, trying to rip his arms away from the plastic grip warmed only by his body heat. He was successful. This was a mistake.

As soon as his arms were free, Lucy’s arms cracked entirely and the debris and corpse of one of his best friends all came crashing down on him--and, in a flash of heat, crumbled into ashes.

“Go on, cry it out,” said Chuuya, looking ecstatic. “Your pack is dead. All dead. We found the Akutagawa's bodies about fifteen minutes ago, it looks like they killed each other in the confusion. And Tachihara’s been blown all to bits, and I saw Kyouka go into the coffin.”

Atsushi froze. That was...that was everyone. His entire pack, other than Dazai, who barely recognized him on a good day. That was  _ everyone. _ He was all alone. He sobbed harder, curling into a ball and pressing his face into his ash-stained pants. Above him, Chuuya watched, bathing in the Desolation.

“Motherfucker, you don’t need to rub it in, bitch!” shouted Kousuke, stalking past him and putting his hand on Atsushi’s shoulder. “You’re going to be alright,” he told him gently. “There’s still Dazai, and you can have Odasaku and me, too, if you want. Mine...my pack, they all died too.”

“I’m sorry,” Atsushi said, his voice cracking a little as he tried to speak around the gaping emptiness burning a hole in his chest.

“Me too,” Kousuke said. He wrapped an arm around Atsushi, who leaned against the older avatar as if trying to gather comfort from the touch. Above them, Chuuya grumbled something about needing to listen to the Statement Kunikida had left. Kousuke raised his middle finger at him, and neither Hunter moved.

**ARCHIVIST**

_ So...that’s it, then? You’re just here to kill me? _

**CORONER**

_ I’m here to end the Archivist, yes. It’s...unfortunate that it had to be you. You’re actually one of the last people I’d want to do this for. But it needs to be done. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ Why? _

**CORONER**

_ Mori’s planning something. Something...something big. And we’re going to stop it, you and I--and your Assistants, once they get the tape. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ I can’t exactly stop something once I’m dead, Akiko. _

**CORONER**

_ Au contraire, my lovely. Because your life is what’s fueling this ritual, this...Watcher’s Crown. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ You mentioned. _

**CORONER**

_ I did. And now that your tape is running, and your Assistants are listening from the future, I’ll explain. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ You already did, technically. _

**CORONER**

_ No, not really. _

**CORONER**

_ Go on, say it. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ Statement of Yosano Akiko, the Coroner, regarding the ritual known as the Watcher’s Crown. _

  
  


Ango woke up, slowly. The first thing he noticed was the burning of the hands of the Hunters who brought him into Moorland House, their touch still lingering against the chilly fog on his skin. Ango had nearly entirely merged with the Lonely, the past however long it had been since Dazai’s death. The grief was still clammy on his skin, the touch of his patron doing its level best to brush it away, but Ango wasn’t quite ready to give up on his grief for Dazai quite yet. He had loved it deeper than he’d thought possible for an avatar of the Lonely--but after all, what was Lonelier than madness? And Odasaku was still human, so as an avatar of the Lonely Ango wasn’t  _ allowed _ to love him. Not as a friend, not as...anything else, not at  _ all. _ But Dazai had been different. He had been allowed to love it, and now that it was gone, it  _ hurt. _

And then, as if summoned by his self-deprecating thoughts, Dazai appeared. The Lonely in Ango (the Lonely that was mostly Ango) didn’t register him at all, which was strange. What was even stranger was the fact that Dazai appeared to be human again, and even stranger than that was the strange emptiness in his face. It remained even when he saw Ango and beamed at him.

“Dazai?” Ango asked.

“Hi, Ango! How are you?”

“I’m...I am,” Ango said. Dazai’s eyes still had that strange blankness, behind the joy of seeing Ango, which was honestly very strange. It was as though there was nothing behind them, nothing other than the happiness at seeing Ango. And the Lonely was acting as though he was talking to himself, which was a very Lonely thing to do and therefore didn’t burn. “How are you?”

“I’m…” Dazai frowned, the earlier happiness replaced entirely with confusion. “I...I...I don’t know, I don’t remember, I...I...oh, hi Ango!” He beamed at him. “How are you doing?”

“...I’m confused,” Ango said.

“Oh, good, me too,” Dazai replied.

“...I can see that,” Ango said, slowly sitting up from where he’d been sprawled on the table. “What happened?”

“Um…” Dazai frowned. His eyes unfocused again, and the confused fear reentered his expression. “I don’t...I...happened...don’t know...I can’t...I can’t remember, I...I can’t, I’m sorry, I...I…”

Ango reached out and put his hand on Dazai’s arm, covered by a loose hoodie. “It’s alright, Dazai.”

Dazai smiled at him. “Hi, Ango! How are you doing?”

Ango’s heart wrung itself tightly in his chest. He didn’t answer, pulling Dazai against him in a hug. Dazai hugged him back tightly, pressing his face into Ango’s shoulder. His cheek brushed against Ango’s neck, and then the burning started, pushing every ounce of fog out of him, and Ango was so very, very Lonely now. But that was getting burned away--every cell set alight by the burning human connection--but there wasn’t enough left of him to even scream. And he burned and he burned, and distantly he heard Dazai cry out, and he reached out to soothe him, and it  _ burned-- _

  
  


**CORONER**

_ I suppose it started when Shachou was the Archivist. Of course I didn’t know about it then. How could I have? I was just an Assistant, doing my level best to use the Eye to untangle me from the End. I was so stupid back then, young and dumb and hopeful. That doesn’t matter now. Me, what I am here, this was inevitable. Everything is, everything ends. It isn’t fate. It just is. _

_ Shachou discovered that Mori was attempting a ritual that hinged on the Archivist. The Archivist needed to be marked by each of the Fears, and then somehow...I think it’s through a special Statement, I’m not sure, but somehow, he ends the world, inviting all the Entities in. You see, the reason the rituals keep failing is because it isn’t fourteen different Entities. It’s one Being, in a way. And you can’t invite one without all the rest. Therefore, Mori plans to being them all in and rule over the world. The End doesn’t care either way what happens, because everyone will die eventually anyway, but Shachou and Ranpo want to prevent it, and so I’m helping them. _

_ Mori Ougai is immortal. He has been fleeing the End for two centuries now, and the End is...well. It isn’t getting tired of it. But his fear is so wonderful it will be a treat for whichever avatar causes it. Currently I’ve come the closest.  _

_ He survives by basically stealing people’s bodies. He raises children to be his new body, usually, although on occasion he has to take one already “fully grown”, so to speak. In that case, he enjoys taking single fathers, because people tend to overlook the change and they already have children that he can use. That’s...how he got to me, actually. I don’t remember what my father was actually like. I only remember Mori. I don’t know how I feel about that. I used to be angry. Now I’m not. _

_ Mori’s original body is in the Panopticon, at the center of the tunnels underneath the Institute. It is entirely defenseless--other than Mori, of course. In order to kill him, you would have to remove his eyes from his current body and destroy his original one simultaneously. It would only be as dangerous as he is dangerous. And on his own, he is not very dangerous. All he can do is see through any eye and push memories into your head. If he has Nakahara Chuuya guarding him, though, he’s much more dangerous. And since he fed Dazai to the Spiral, I’m sure that Nakahara is feeling very loyal to him. After all, those two hated each other. If he is there...be very, very careful. Remember, destroying Mori is your top priority. _

_ Statement Ends. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ Somehow I doubt that was for me. _

**CORONER**

_ It fed you, didn’t it? _

**CORONER**

_ But yes. It was also for whoever listens to it--whoever kills Mori. This information exists, now. It can’t be destroyed. People can use it. And they will use it, Doppo. _

**CORONER**

_ It’s inevitable. _

  
  


They brought the coffin with them. After finding out that Kyouka was trapped inside, Atsushi refused to leave it, and Kousuke backed him up, growling at Chuuya until he admitted that he could feed on them just as well with the coffin there as without it, because it was impossible for Kyouka to get out, anyway. Nobody ever escaped from the Buried.

Chuuya had wanted to see the light fade from Mori’s eyes as they killed him in the only body they’d ever known him in, but they figured his talents were better used on the original body, and besides, he’d actually be able to set it on fire.

Nobody was surprised to see Yosano Akiko waiting at the entrance to the Institute, but all she did was wave at them with her hand not holding a Starbucks Pink Drink, her black lipstick glistening in the early morning sun. They passed her silently, Chuuya heading down the the Archives and the tunnel entrance there, Atsushi and Kousuke hanging around near Artifact Storage before their phones buzzed with a text.

**Chuuya:** I’m here.

They walked upstairs. Neither of them spoke, both silently mourning their packs. Mori had known that they wouldn’t have to blow up the Unknowing. Mori had known that they were going to do it and  _ wished them luck. _ Mori had fed Dazai to the Spiral. Mori was the reason they had lost...everything, except for their humanity.

They both knew that they were the reasons they’d lost that.

“Hello, Atsushi, Kousuke,” Mori said when they entered. “I do hope you realize that killing me would be a mistake. After all, everyone in the Institute is tied to--”

Kousuke lunged at him, knocking him off of his chair and pinning him down, clamping his hand over his mouth so that he couldn’t speak.

_ “We. Don’t. Care,” _ he snarled.

“You killed our family,” Atsushi said, pulling out one of Kyouka’s knives. “You took our packs from us.”

“Mmph,” said Mori.

Atsushi kneeled over him. “I do one, you do the other?” he offered.

“Sure,” Kousuke said.

Atsushi pulled one of Mori’s eyes open and held it. It twitched, almost fearfully, and Atsushi grinned. 

_ Prey. _

He plunged the knife in and pried out the eye. Mori let out a muffled scream. Atsushi took the eye and crushed it into the carpet with a satisfactory ooze. Then he and Kousuke switched positions so that Atsushi was the one pinning Mori down, and Kousuke the one cutting out the other eye.

Something snapped in Atsushi’s chest, something painful, like a fire. He screamed, sliding off of Mori. He could smell smoke, like a wildfire, as it raged through his connections to the Eye, weak as they were.

And then suddenly it was over. Atsushi pushed himself off the carpet, saw Kousuke holding Mori down.

“He’s still fucking alive,” he snarled.

“Fuck!” Atsushi said, rubbing at where the pain had been. “I thought the Statement said this would kill him for good!”

“Apparently not,” Kousuke muttered.

Mori was gasping, whimpering, writhing. He looked absolutely pathetic, nothing like the monstrous avatar of the Eye who had lived for so long stealing people’s bodies and families.

“Mori Ougai is dead,” Yosano said from the door. 

Atsushi turned. “Yosano!”

She smiled at him, tapping her fingers on the cup. “Atsushi. You and Kousuke can let him go now. You were successful.”

“He’s still moving,” Kousuke said.

“Hm...yes, and we’ll remedy that,” she said, “but Mori Ougai is dead. That man there is the person the body  _ used _ to belong to.”

Kousuke let the man go.

“Please,” the man gasped, “please, please, let me go, I’ll do whatever you want, please, I have a  _ daughter--” _

“Shut him up,” Yosano said.

Atsushi clamped a hand over the man’s mouth.

“Can we explain to him what happened?” he asked.

Yosano shrugged. “Go for it. It’s not like it’ll change his fate.”

“Fair. Um, I’m Nakajima Atsushi. The woman is Yosano Akiko, and the guy who was sitting on you is Oda Kousuke. We’re called avatars, which means we serve evil fear gods. Kousuke and I serve the Hunt, which is the fear of being hunted, obviously, and Yosano serves the End, which is the fear of death. You were possessed for, um, a long time--”

“Twenty-seven years,” Yosano said, sounding bored.

“For twenty-seven years by an avatar of the Eye, which is the fear of being watched. But don’t worry! We killed him. And now you’re free.”

The man took a shaky breath.

“I think you frightened him even more, Atsushi,” Yosano said. 

“Sorry,” Atsushi said, because the man wasn’t afraid of being hunted and therefore Atsushi had no reason to feel glad that he was afraid.

“He’ll bleed out soon, anyway,” Yosano said. “The two of you can go now. I have...unfinished business with him.”

“You…?” Atsushi paused. “Oh.  _ Oh, _ in the Statement, you said he was…”

“Yes. Please, the both of you. Chuuya should be coming back into the Institute proper any time now.”

The two Hunt avatars nodded, and left, closing the door behind them.

  
  


**ARCHIVIST**

_ You said that Mori stole the bodies of single fathers. _

**CORONER**

_ Yes. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ And you said that was how he...got to you. _

**CORONER**

_ Yes. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ God, Akiko, I’m sorry. _

**CORONER**

_ Don’t be. Like I said, I don’t even remember my real father. I was a toddler when he was replaced, and I was given over to the Slaughter soon after. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ Still. That’s… _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ Do you think he’s still in there? Your father? _

**CORONER**

_ I don’t know. I don’t want to know. _

  
  


Odasaku hurried into the kitchen when he heard Dazai screaming. There was nobody else in there, just some Lonely fog wafting in front of Dazai, and Dazai, who was screaming and sobbing like his heart was breaking. Odasaku waved the fog away and held Dazai.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know,” Dazai sobbed. “I don’t know.”

The fog dissipated quickly, but Dazai cried for a very long time.

  
  


**ARCHIVIST**

_ So...this is it, then? _

**CORONER**

_ This is it. They’ll be in again soon. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ I’ll miss you, I hope. After. If there is anything after. _

**CORONER**

_ I’ll miss you too. For what it’s worth, I wish it didn’t have to come to this. _

**ARCHIVIST**

_ This? _

  
  


Atsushi opened the coffin lid. He could feel the Buried calling to him, feel himself drawn downwards.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” said Kousuke. “You still have Dazai. You could have me and Odasaku.”

“Kyouka’s  _ alive _ in there,” Atsushi said. “I can’t--you  _ know _ I can’t leave her. If it were Sakura, or Shinji, or Yu, or Katsumi, you’d be in there in a heartbeat.”

“I know,” Kousuke said. “But...you don’t have to.”

“Nobody dies in the Buried,” Atsushi said. “They don’t let you die in there.”

“I know,” said Kousuke.

“I’ll find her. Eventually.”

Kousuke nodded. “I hope you find her soon.”

Atsushi smiled at him. “Me too. Give...give Dazai my love, ok? Tell him that I love him very much, and I won’t forget him.”

“I will,” Kousuke promised.

Atsushi stepped down the stairs, and the lid closed over his head.

  
  


**CORONER**

_ The End. _

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! The series is officially over, although, like I said in the notes, I might revisit it with backstory fics. Also, I do have in mind a possible way Atsushi and Kyouka could hypothetically get out of the Buried, but if I ever touch it, it will be after TMA finishes and I know all the lore.  
> Thank you for sticking with this series! I've loved all your comments, and I'm so happy that I'm not the only person who loves both TMA and BSD!


End file.
